Ontario Lacus facts for kids
Ontario Lacus is the dark shape near the centre-left of this image of Titan's south pole.
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| Feature on Titan | |
|---|---|
| Type | Lacus |
| Latitude | 72S |
| Longitude | 183W |
| Diameter | 235 km (146 mi) |
| Eponym | Lake Ontario |
Ontario Lacus is a large lake on Titan. Titan is a moon of Saturn, a giant planet in our solar system. This lake is special because it's filled with liquids like methane and ethane, not water.
Scientists discovered Ontario Lacus using the Cassini spacecraft. This amazing discovery was announced in a science journal called Nature on July 31, 2008.
Ontario Lacus covers an area of about 20,000 square kilometers. It is named after Lake Ontario in North America. Both lakes are similar in size and shape, which is why scientists chose this name.
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| Sun • Heliosphere |
Planets ☾ = moon(s) ∅ = rings |
Mercury | Venus | Earth ☾ | Mars ☾ | ||
| Jupiter ☾ ∅ | Saturn ☾ ∅ | Uranus ☾ ∅ | Neptune ☾ ∅ | ||||
| Dwarf planets | Ceres | Pluto ☾ | Haumea ☾ | Makemake | |||
| Eris ☾ | |||||||
| Small Solar System bodies |
Asteroids (minor planets) |
Groups and families: Vulcanoids · Near-Earth asteroids · Asteroid belt Jupiter Trojans · Centaurs · Neptune Trojans · Asteroid moons · Meteoroids · Pallas · Juno · Vesta · Hygiea · Interamnia · Europa |
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| See also the list of asteroids. | |||||||
| Trans- Neptunians |
Kuiper belt – Plutinos: Orcus · Ixion – Cubewanos: Varuna · Quaoar · Huya |
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| Scattered disc: Sedna | |||||||
| Comets | Periodic comets and non-periodic comets Damocloids · Oort cloud |
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| See also the list of solar system objects | |||||||
Images for kids
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This is an infrared image of Titan's south pole. Ontario Lacus is the dark area on the left side.
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This radar image shows Ontario Lacus and the area around it. The outline shows where a much larger sea might have been in the past.
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The image on the left shows Lake Eyre's large water collection area. The image on the right shows Ontario Lacus's collection area. The actual lake (blue, dashed ovals) is much smaller than the area that feeds it.
See also
In Spanish: Ontario Lacus para niños
